AOL’s MapQuest Looks to Wikipedia Model for Mapping

MapQuest, the No. 2 Internet-mapping service after Google’s, is taking the first steps toward a Wikipedia-like model — in which users would generate the maps themselves and combine the results for everyone to use.

A view of Oxford, U.K., in OpenStreetMap

The company, a subsidiary of AOL, plans to announce Friday morning that it is launching a site in the U.K. based on a project called OpenStreetMap, which is dedicated to user-created mapping. The OpenStreetMap project has caught on most quickly in Europe, which is why MapQuest is starting there, but AOL also will devote $1 million to support the growth of open-source mapping in the U.S. The site has a U.K. address — http://open.mapquest.co.uk — but users can navigate to user-created maps from any country.

The main MapQuest site will still use mapping data that the company purchases, but the idea is that eventually, MapQuest maps could rely on many users who keep track of their own corner of the world.

“We fundamentally believe that community-contributed mapping will be better than any closed platform,” said Jon Brod, the executive vice president of AOL Ventures, Local and Mapping, in an interview with Digits.